In California, and I’m looking up Title 24 requirements (building standards) in the Code of Regulations. I couldnt find “Titles” while doing a code search. Are these seperate bodies of codes? (Apologies if this is not the right sub. Feel free to point me in the right direction!)
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Typically there is an order, or hierarchy, of laws. It is unique to the jurisdiction, and I do not practice in California, but the usual order is:
* Constitution
* Statutes/Laws
* Ordinances
* Regulations
* Rules
* Policies
There are several parallel laws as well, such as charters (city constitutions) and other legally binding rules (like HOAs, property plats, etc.). The “Title” is usually the subject matter of a law/statute. So, the Building Code of California is found within the California Code of Regulations in Title 24 (there will be 23 Titles before the building code). California is unique because it doesn’t have a single California Code, it’s split into several, like the California Criminal Code. Of course – to confuse the matter – the California Code of Regulations is not a “Code” like the aforementioned, but a “Regulation” compilation that is compiled by state agencies.
Just look it up on Google to find it.
In general, the State Laws are the things that the legislature passed. Those tend to be fairly high level (it’s not a good idea to have legislatures write detailed rule, they don’t know what they’re doing by discipline). The laws often tell the various state agencies to do something…the agencies then write regulations to enact the intent of the law. The regulations contain all the details you need to follow.
Just to confuse things, CA calls their state laws codes. You can access those here:
[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml)
The Code of regulations is here: [https://oal.ca.gov/publications/ccr/](https://oal.ca.gov/publications/ccr/)
But, to make it worse, since you’re specifically looking for Title 24, that’s *not* maintained by the CA Office Of Administrative Law (OAL), but by the Building Standards Commision:
“Title 24, the Building Standards Code, is maintained by the Building Standards Commission, not by OAL, and is not included in the on-line CCR or printed CCR. To locate
a copy of Title 24, please contact the Building Standards Commission [www.bsc.ca.gov/.”](https://www.bsc.ca.gov/.”)
The thing you’re actually looking for is here: [https://www.dgs.ca.gov/BSC/Codes](https://www.dgs.ca.gov/BSC/Codes)
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